Carmen Sandiego

If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter – when I update it – you will have no doubt seen the pictures of some of my travels since last week. We went again to the Space Needle and Pike Place Market, but this time it was with a friend and we spent more time exploring the grounds of both locations. I slid face-first off a whale statue, wandered up to a fountain to see if the water was cold, and snuck a picture of my friend – who I naturally believe does not have enough pictures of herself on Facebook.

Packing Matt’s apartment was easy enough, but we planned a little inefficiently for my tastes. This is entirely my fault because I knew we had the movers coming days before we had to be out of the apartment. Our schedule was our own until our next hard time and knowing I have no deadline or responsibility to fill until I get a job prevented me from nurturing the I-need-to-get-my-butt-in-gear bug that I require to… get my butt in gear. Regardless, the apartment got packed in a nearly flawless fashion and the only mishap with the process that either of us can find is that the movers packed Matt’s only decent pair of Vibrams.

We fixed that today, by the way.

The trip from Seattle to San Francisco was not as bad as I imagined it would be. Matt drove the trip in its entirety and we stopped two nights instead of one. The drive could have been much more uncomfortable for both of us if we had really pushed it, but we took it easy. We stopped the first night only four hours from Seattle, at Kate and Michael’s. After hearing so much about them, it was a joy to finally be able to sit and talk. With multiple military backgrounds in the room, I was not surprised to realize it was nearly midnight before we got to bed.

Soldiers talk. We have stories.

The second nights we stopped in Redding, California. There is no significance to this place other than that point in any trip that dictates the rest. Had we pushed past Redding, Matt would have started seeing the names of towns and cities he recognized. As someone who has driven across the country multiple times, and has made more day trips than she can count, once you get to that point, it is very hard to convince yourself to stop for the night.

“One more town; I’ll stop at the next town I see.” Yeah, I have muttered that to myself more than once as I kept my foot on the gas pedal.

We challenged the GPS in my phone in so many ways to guarantee entry via the Golden Gate Bridge that I was ready to throw the thing if it would guarantee success.

The phone, not the bridge.

Arriving in the San Francisco Bay area could not have been more perfect. The sun was shining, it was a comfortable temperature, the breeze was slight if present at all… Perfect. It was the first time I had ever seen the bridge, so it looked gorgeous to me. It wasn’t until I started posting the pictures that I took, however, that I began to understand the rare view I had experienced. Apparently photographers wait weeks, months even, to experience the cloudless and sunny day that I could have potentially taken for granted.

As tribute, I changed my Facebook cover photo to one of the pictures I took of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Many on my Facebook page got a status update from me that mentioned ring shopping – not hard to believe, considering I am engaged – and a note that this week’s blog would be particularly interesting. Okay, “interesting” might be my own vanity coming into play, but it is definitely worth reading. You know I always think so.

Friends and family have been asking me for wedding information for two months now. I know, I know. I suck at having answers for them, but I really am trying to plan for it! With that in mind, I have two things for my readers:

1) Matt and I are getting married this Friday with the blessings of both of our parents. The kicker: nobody is invited because it is a practical approach to making sure we both stay healthy and taken care of. Insurance is a funny thing and, having been a military kid and then a soldier, civilian healthcare is foreign to me. No, I have not been to the doctor, dentist, or eye care specialists since I got out of the Army in 2009. When my tooth started hurting and I saw the cavity last week, Matt nearly insisted on getting married, at least legally, as soon as possible if the parents approved.

They do.

2) The wedding ceremony is extremely important to me and is still happening. This is a promise. The exact date is not set in stone because of the travels of multiple family members around most of the times we have selected, but we can safely say that it will be in late November or early December. While some traditions are too important to change, the ceremony will be non-traditional in almost every way. The location will likely be in New Mexico, but we are still working out the logistics part of planning so we can get to the fun stuff.

Like cake.

So, yes, my Facebook status will change and the law will recognize us as married, but my friends and family are the most important thing in my life. Until they have witnessed our promises to each other, it will feel incomplete. And hey, there are benefits to having the legal stuff out of the way before the ceremony. We can have whoever we like officiate the ceremony. I wonder what Johnny is doing in late November or early December…

If you believe Albuquerque or its surrounding areas would be nice around that time of year, and you would like to see it or us, please make sure I have your current contact information. I do not expect invitations to be going out until May or so, but I want to make sure nobody is getting excluded because I have no way to send an invitation to them. I will update the blog, Facebook, and Twitter when I get to the point that they must be sent to our friends and family, but there is no rush this evening.

Next week’s blog will likely talk about the marriage process in the state of California, but I have also been planning and delaying a blog that is very important to me. It has no purpose or goal, much like 90% of the blogs I have written, but getting my thoughts out will make me feel much better…

BTW, my daughter married on the beach in CA a full year before she and hubby came home to the east coast for the ceremony. Only a handful of people knew about the beach marriage, which was legal. The ceremonial one was officiated by a friend — and not legal — unbeknownst to the attendees. It was great. The bride and groom enjoyed the wedding instead of fretting about it, since the legal deed was already done months earlier. You are a smart cookie!